DT News - UK - New Change4Life campaign launched by Public Health England

Dental Tribune UK

Tue. 8 January 2019

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LONDON, UK: Public Health England (PHE) has launched a new Change4Life campaign to encourage parents to reduce their children’s sugar consumption and help tackle growing rates of childhood obesity. The campaign highlights alarming data that shows that the average British child has already exceeded the maximum recommended sugar intake for an 18-year-old by the time he or she turns 10.

With the slogan of “Make a swap when you next shop”, the campaign highlights simple everyday actions, such as swapping a sugary fruit juice drink for one with no added sugar, that can easily work to reduce overall sugar intake. Though sugar intakes of children have decreased slightly on average over the past few years, they nevertheless consume an excess of sugar equivalent to roughly eight sugar cubes per day, or 2,800 per year.

“Children are consuming too much sugar, but parents can take action now to prevent this building up over the years,” said Dr Alison Tedstone, Chief Nutritionist at PHE.

“To make this easier for busy families, Change4Life is offering a straightforward solution—by making simple swaps each day, children can have healthier versions of everyday foods and drinks, while significantly reducing their sugar intake,” she explained.

Dr Max Davie, Officer for Health Promotion for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, added: “Sugar is in so many of the products families love. They’re in soft drinks—some have more sugar than ice cream and puddings combined—in buns and cakes, pastries and some breakfast cereal. When a can of Coke contains the equivalent of nine cubes of sugar, you can see how easy it is for a child to reach and exceed their daily limit very quickly, and doing so, can lead to unpleasant consequences.”

“Too much sugar can lead to tooth decay, which nearly half of 15-year-olds have. It’s the number one reason why children aged 5 to 9 are admitted to hospital, costing millions of pounds a year to treat,” he continued.

“Campaigns like this play a crucial part in helping families make informed choices about the food they choose to eat but sometimes it isn’t that easy. The information presented on product packaging can be misleading or hard to interpret so we need the government to bring in clear front-of-pack labelling on all foods, to help families make these important decisions,” Davie asserted.

Families are encouraged by PHE to look for the Change4Life Good Choice badge in stores and to download the free Change4Life Food Scanner app for mobile phones.

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